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The Judge's Niece

T HE Judge, his ermine laid aside,
For happiness exchanging pride,
Of life's gay term renews the lease,
And plays at cribbage with his Niece .

'Tis true the Niece we here disclose
Is lovely as a new-born rose;
And Love could find a golden fleece,
If he should light on such a Niece .

The vestals of severe decorum,
A dish of scandal plac'd before 'em,
Have tongues that cannot rest in peace
Till they have stripp'd the Judge's Niece .

Whatever he can do or say,
The gossip tongues will have their way;

The Refined Anacreon

" The Lyre to Heroes had been strung,
But Love alone the tune it sung;
Again 'twas Love; no other sound,
The Poet or the Minstrel found. "
Thus in her frolic Winter's day,
Anacreon's cheerful Muse could play;
But mine, which Agonies inspire,
Tunes with no other string the lyre;
Could Love himself the chords demand,
They would reject his impious hand;
Call'd in his name , but proudly mute,
The baffled insult would refute.
Yet have they known the Tyrant's voice,

A Love Song

Give me but thy heart, though cold;
I ask no more!
Give to others gems and gold;
But leave me poor.
Give to whom thou wilt thy smiles;
Cast o'er others all thy wiles;
But let thy tears flow fast and free,
For me , — with me!

Giv'st thou but one look, sweet heart?
A word, — no more?
It is Music's sweetest part.
When lips run o'er!
'Tis a part I fain would learn,
So, pr'ythee, here thy lessons turn,
And teach me, to the close,

The Spirit-Haunted

O' ER the dark woods, surging, solemn,
Hung the new moon's silver ring;
And in white and naked beauty,
Out from Twilight's luminous wing,
Peered the first star of the eve; —
'T was the time when poets weave
Radiant songs of love's sweet passion,
In the loom of thought sublime,
And with throbbing, quick pulsations
Beat the golden web of rhyme.

On a hillside very lonely
With the willows' dewy flow
Shutting down like sombre curtains
Round the silent beds below,
Where the lip from love is bound.

The Quadroon

Say they that all beauty lies
In the paler maiden's hue?
Say they that all softness flies,
Save from eyes of April blue?
Arise thou, like a night in June,
Beautiful Quadroon!

Come, — all dark and bright, as skies
With the tender starlight hung!
Loose the Love from out thine eyes!
Loose the Angel from thy tongue!
Let them hear Heaven's own sweet tune.
Beautiful Quadroon!

Tell them — Beauty (born above)
From no shade nor hue doth fly:
All she asks is Mind, is Love;

Songs to be Said While Walking

I

Let the day come out of the night
And the night come out of the day —
Night from day, and day from night,
And let the hours be a flight
Or wild birds winging away.

And whether the night or whether the day,
As the hours forever fly,
Holding the sun on their wings, or grey
With the dusk of night, let them go their way
Calling across the sky.

II

Love cannot stay, love cannot pass.
For every love that dies,
Swift as a flower from the grass,
A newer love shall rise.

Then why have I so long a face,

The Poet and the Fisher

I. P. —

O Fisher , who dost ever love to stand
By waters streaming! F. —
O Poet, who dost lie, at Love's command,
In azure dreaming! P. —
What is it bids us face, 'midst rain and wind,
The wild Spring weather? F. —
What strange and unknown the doth help to bind
Such souls together?

II. F. —

What know'st thou, Poet, of the tedious time
The fisher loseth? P. —
What know'st thou, Fisher, of the precious rhyme
The bard abuseth? F. —